By Cesar Rivas, Sept 2, 2025
A moment every athlete dream about is winning a national championship and receiving their championship ring. The Cal Poly Pomona women’s soccer team fulfilled the dream Saturday, Aug. 30.
Each ring is customized with the athlete’s last name on the side, and four green gems on the front represent the championships won during the season. The inside of the ring includes the team’s overall record of 22-1-2, the team’s motto “we before me” and the team’s playoff score-lines.
The game that ultimately earned the CPP women’s soccer players these rings is when they bested the Minnesota State Mavericks with a final score of 2-1 Dec. 15, 2024. After going down 1-0 in under 10 minutes, their season-long resilience showed. Now senior Marisa Salazar netted the game-winning goal in the second half, delivering the program’s first-ever national championship win.
The Broncos filled the trophy cabinet this past season winning four titles including the CCAA Championship, CCAA Tournament Championship, NCAA West Region Championship and the NCAA Division II Championship.
Senior defender and midfielder Liberty Ortiz said it is an honor to win a championship at CPP. Ortiz was a vital part of the squad last year, starting in all 25 matches and earning multiple individual awards.
“We all dream of this moment, and so now that it happened months ago, but it still almost doesn’t feel real,” Ortiz said.
Salazar was another player who was a critical key to the success of last season.
The Long Beach native earned All-CCAA second team honors, scoring nine goals and tallying five assists.
Salazar said she would like to build on the success she had last year but is focused more so on building chemistry with her teammates.
“I think just success continues through hard work, trusting your team and just kind of building chemistry within the team,” Salazar said.
Head coach Jay Mason said a national championship doesn’t equate to the off-field connections that are made.
“The soccer is great,” Mason said. “I love the competitive aspect of that, but the thing that fulfills me more (is) the relationship and the connections within a team trying to achieve something and seeing individuals within that team grow and achieve their own personal goals and then selflessly give to one another was the most rewarding part of this for me.”
Mason earned some individual accolades himself, winning his second CCAA Coach of the Year and NCAA Division II Coach of the Year along with NCAA Division II Coaching Staff of the Year.
Despite this success, the Broncos recognize it is time to turn the page with the new season approaching.
“Something that we always say is that this team has earned nothing,” Ortiz said. “Our national championship was won last year with a completely different team.”
The Broncos have the simplistic mindset of taking everything one day at a time. A team motto for this season is “leave no doubt,” focusing on how they can help the team improve.
The defending national champions start their title defense with a home opener at Kellogg Stadium Thursday, Sept. 4 against Azusa Pacific University with kick off at 6 p.m.
Feature image courtesy of CPP Athletics